The present invention is directed generally to cabinet manufacture, and more particularly to a system for simultaneously cutting and drilling a workpiece for forming face frame components for cabinet manufacture.
Many of today's cabinets are manufactured to include a rectangularly shaped face frame structure to which the cabinet doors may be mounted, and the cabinet sidewalls may be attached. Such face frame structures are typically formed from pre-cut sections typically joined together by fastening screws that are received by pre-drilled holes in one section to penetrate an adjoining section.
Heretofore, cabinet face frame construction typically included cutting a length of material (e.g., wood stock) into shorter sections at one work station, carrying the pre-cut sections to a second workstation where holes are drilled proximate terminus of certain of the section for receiving fastening screws that will attach the sections together to form the face frame structure. This construction may also include carrying the sections, before assembly, to yet a third workstation where the holes are provided a countersinking for receiving the head of the attachment screw below a surface of the section, although using stepped drills to produce the holes and the countersink at the same time will obviate the need for this latter work station.
As can be seen, today's cabinet face frame construction can be very labor-intensive, and thereby expensive. Apparatus for combining the various manufacturing steps used to construct a cabinet face frame is needed.